Darklord Day 2017

That makes total sense, not sure why that didn't occur to me. That's a much better solution than cash.

Last year I'm 100% positive it was one voucher (so $5) for a 5oz plastic cup. That was the first beer I got when I walked in so it's one of the few beers of the day I have strong memories of lol.

 

Yeah with how much beer you usually end up sharing, I'm glad the forced voucher system is gone. I wasn't a fan of it last year. The food lines were ridiculously long so I didn't use the food vouchers. Once I navigated the infinite minefield of kegs of Yum Yum, Gumballhead and Alpha King I found some nice beers to spend my vouchers on. I am actually surprised they're doing away with the system, as I would assume with the guaranteed less than 100% redemption voucher rate they would essentially be earning unredeemed income.

Maybe they had analytical people do the math and figure out that they'll make more profit at this set of price points than last year's setup.

This will be my 4th year attending, assuming I can get tickets. The most fun part for me is the hotel bottle share and the sharing at the event. Dark Lord itself is meh to me, and I keep telling myself every year ok maybe take this year off. But I'll be gearing up ready to go again.

 

It also limits cash transactions to the ticket/voucher booths, which makes cash pickups, accounting, etc., that much easier on the event side. It's why lots of major festivals use food/drink tickets instead of point of sale cash transactions in the first place.

Well, that and odd psychological cash grabs.

 

Exactly. Cash exchange will also slow line movement. Thankfully, the bottle pickup portion remains prepaid....the line moved much more efficiently without having the scratch off/cash exchange situation.

 

Maybe tips were down due to the forced vouchers, like "I didn't really want to buy this, but I was forced to buy it to use up my vouchers therefore I don't feel obligated to tip?"

 

I like it, quite a bit actually.

Some people get their rocks off by hating originators. Those same people generally tend to jump on the next hottest thing, which invariably turns out to be vastly unworthy of the hype, but usually includes 20 added ingredients like coconut and peanut butter and is aged in Caramel Apple Absolut barrels.

 

Waiting to see how many people will be packing more burritos than bottles to share this year.

 

I like where you are heading with that, get some caramel into Nutsmasher and put it in Apple Brandy Barrels.

 

lol, and maybe some Everlasting Gobstoppers too

 

Imagine the trade value. We'd be rich.

 

I bottle shared all day and then eventually made an effort to go use my vouchers. I then waited in line for the snifters and sure enough vouchers weren't good there so ended up wasting all mine regardless. Def like the new format

 

I like Dark Lord with a year or two of age on it. Fresh it's just too sweet for me. It mellows out into a nice beverage though

 

Yea I agree, I think 1-2 years is the sweet spot

 

I think 45 minutes of age is the spot. Once it comes close to room temp it is never too sweet for me, but when cold it's a complete sugar bomb.

 

I'm with you, although I can't say for certain that the temp has dipped low enough just from my hand heat, as the most I've enjoyed a DL has been on draft at the (frigid) festivals, or the day after at the pub. The bottles are great too, but it doesn't quite have the same feel to it.

 

The rain water normally tames the sweetness as well

 

I'm certainly hoping that the rumors of less variants are true. 3-4 solid varieties would make everyone happy I think.

 

They should just make 10 vanilla based variants:
Regular Handjee
Vanilla Smore
Vanilla Cherry
Vanilla Coffee
Vanilla Hazlenut
Double Dry Beaned Vanilla
Vanilla aged in Vanilla Whiskey Barrels
Vanilla Muerte
Vanilla In Muscatel Barrels
and then the obilgatory WTF Vanilla with Cardamon, Cinnamon, Orange Peel and Cracker Jacks

 

I like where this is going!

 

Aren't we all kind of hoping Rue D'Floyd was a collab with the ultimate purpose of helping FFF learn to nail an adjunct barrel aged stout so they can use the vanilla, coffee, and cherry theme in a DL version?